The other night I introduced a new and rather intriguing friend to my favorite legume: the cranberry bean.

A white bean speckled with purple, the cranberry bean is at once homey and elegant--unadorned, a simple meal, or an excellent partner for caramelized onions, corn, and country bacon.

Shelled and simmered in stock, the beans become a base for conversational layers, and just as the bean dehisces, I find new people and places expose seams in my understanding, which, opened, lead to discovery...